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The original plan was to build the station above ground, with a parking lot that would have required demolishing about fifteen homes.[6] After community opposition to the above-ground station, Montgomery County approved a modified plan for an underground station.[6]

The originally planned location for the parking lot and bus stops was on the east side of Georgia Avenue, between Sherwood Road and Tilton Drive, near Woodland Drive.[7] Tilton Drive would have been closed between Georgia Avenue and Woodland Drive in order to reduce traffic through the nearby residential neighborhood.[7] Building the parking lot and bus stops there would have required the demolition of one business and several homes.[7]

Response to plans for the underground station were mixed, with some residents and local businesses looking forward to the convenience of a nearby station and other residents concerned about potential increases in traffic in the area.[1][6] Metro contended that deleting the station from the plans altogether would have overloaded both Wheaton and Silver Spring metro stations.[7] The Montgomery County council approved the station in January 1976,[6] three months after it had approved the further-away Wheaton station.[8]

Due to tracks resting at a depth of 196 feet (60 m), Forest Glen is the only station in the system without direct surface access by way of escalators.[4] Instead, there is a bank of six high-speed elevators that travel at a rate of 17 feet per second (5.2 m/s) between the underground station and the surface.[9] In addition, a 20-story staircase exists for emergency use. Because of the lack of escalators, Forest Glen is the only station equipped with smoke doors to protect customers during a train fire and evacuation.[4] Building the tunnels through soft rock close to the surface would have been either very costly or impossible, so engineers decided to dig the tunnels through harder, more solid rock deeper in the ground.[1][7]

Another architectural feature of this station is separate tunnels and platforms for each direction, instead of the large, vaulted common room seen at most other underground stations.[10] This design, shared with Wheaton, was used because it was cheaper than building a larger two-tracked station with a larger base and higher vaulted ceilings.[4][10]